Life Cycle Investment Partners Ltd Acquires Shares of 67,496 Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Life Cycle Investment Partners Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 67,496 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $361,463,000. Booking accounts for 2.5% of Life Cycle Investment Partners Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Values Added Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Booking by 4.8% in the third quarter. Values Added Financial LLC now owns 44 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $238,000 after acquiring an additional 2 shares during the period. Centric Wealth Management raised its position in shares of Booking by 2.5% in the third quarter. Centric Wealth Management now owns 82 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $416,000 after buying an additional 2 shares in the last quarter. Bryn Mawr Trust Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Booking by 0.5% in the third quarter. Bryn Mawr Trust Advisors LLC now owns 428 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,311,000 after buying an additional 2 shares in the last quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. raised its position in shares of Booking by 50.0% in the third quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. now owns 6 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 2 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Monetary Management Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Booking by 1.1% in the third quarter. Monetary Management Group Inc. now owns 188 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,015,000 after buying an additional 2 shares in the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Booking Trading Up 0.9%

BKNG opened at $161.06 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $124.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.19, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.10. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $171.06 and its 200-day moving average price is $187.47. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $150.14 and a 12 month high of $233.58.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $5.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.52 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 117.14% and a net margin of 22.23%.Booking’s quarterly revenue was up 16.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.99 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 10.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th will be paid a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.11%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 16,726 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.36, for a total value of $3,100,331.36. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 298,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $55,269,532.64. This trade represents a 5.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 1,125 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.00, for a total value of $216,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 16,050 shares in the company, valued at $3,081,600. The trade was a 6.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 34,576 shares of company stock worth $6,187,746 over the last three months. 0.16% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on BKNG. Tigress Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $260.00 price objective (up from $244.00) on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Piper Sandler set a $195.00 price objective on Booking in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. DA Davidson lowered their price objective on Booking from $240.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Benchmark lowered their price objective on Booking from $256.00 to $224.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Argus increased their price objective on Booking from $188.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have assigned a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $227.14.

About Booking

Booking Holdings Inc is a global online travel company that operates a portfolio of consumer brands and technology platforms that facilitate the search for and booking of travel services. The company’s businesses focus on accommodations, transportation and related travel services through consumer-facing websites and apps as well as partner distribution channels. Booking Holdings was originally founded as Priceline in the late 1990s and adopted the Booking Holdings name in 2018; it is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut.

Its core offerings include online reservations for hotels, vacation rentals and other lodging; flight and car rental search and booking; and ancillary services that support travel planning and on-property experiences.